Oil and shipping billionaire John Fredriksen has appointed a new president to head up his family office, Fredriksen Group.
Jo Lunder, who used to be president of multi-generational Norwegian family business Ferd, will begin managing the Fredriksen family’s financial and industrial assets from September. He will report to Fredriksen, and also work closely with his twin daughters, Kathrine and Cecile.
In a statement, Fredriksen says he was impressed by Lunder’s “track record, commitment and integriy”. “Jo and I will now build a strong structure and develop a small group of highly qualified investment professionals managing our family’s financial and industrial assets in an efficient way.”
Lunder, who was a former footballer for Norwegian club Lyn Toppfotball, worked for Ferd, the holding company owned by Johan Andresen and his family, from 2007 to 2011.
The family owns stakes in companies such as Seadrill, Frontline, Golden Ocean Group, Archer and Marine Harvest, and Fredriksen is regularly compared to the late shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
According to Forbes, he is worth $10.4 billion, and manages the world’s largest fleet of supertankers.
Fredriksen, born in Oslo, gave up his Norwegian citizenship in 1996 to become a citizen of Cyprus, where dividend-based income is not taxed, and regularly domiciles his companies in Bermuda. He also has homes in London and Marbella.
His daughters have directorships on several of his companies including SeaDrill, Frontline and Golar.